Arkansas Expedition of de Soto and de La Salle The respective expeditions of Reny Robert Cavelier , Sieur de La Salle ,or Robert de La Salle and Hernando de Soto have grown interests both from archeologists and historians . Their expeditions in Arkansas region have found significance in the history of the region and the people , and the possible influences and the impacts to the locals and their countries alike . The succeeding two paragraphs will deal with their expeditions . Hernando de Soto , with the hope of finding gold , silver and other valuable treasures , led an expedition of 600 to 700 men , 24 priests , 9 ships and 220 horses . On May of 1539 , the group landed on the western coast of Florida . The place was named Espiritu Santo that is now Bradenton , Florida . The exact route of the expedition is still under discussion . It was agreed by many that the expedition ran west-northwest crossing Mississippi , Arkansas and Oklahoma until Texas . Though others suggested a northern route crossing Kentucky and Indiana to the Great Lakes . In spite the uncertainty , the most accepted study of the route of the de Soto expedition was from the year 1939 from an anthropologist HYPERLINK “http /en .wikipedia .org /wiki /John_R ._Swanton ” \o “John R .Swanton ” John R . Swanton (Wikipedia . Swanton ‘s theory “relied largely on the four surviving accounts of the expedition , on study of the terrain over which the army marched , and on the meager archeological information that was available at that time (Mitchem 2000 . As a prycis , from Espiritu Santo the de Soto expedition progressed to Florida and Southern U .S . where they brutally ran sacked the villages . Joined by the interpreters Juan Ortiz and Perico they reached Anhaica , capital of Apalachee , which presently located near downtown of Tallahassee ,Florida , The expedition continued to the Eastern Appalachian Mountains and crossed what were now Georgia , South and North Carolina and Tenesse .In search for the famous treasure of the tribe Cofitachequi and accompanied by the rival tribe Ocute , they reached what is now Columbia ,South Carolina . The said famous treasure of gold turned out to be copper . In dismay , they took everything and destroyed the village . They then crossed Carolinas , Georgia and Alabama . In the city of Mauvila (or Mabila , the Choctaw tribe ambushed the group where they were wounded and lose some men and possessions . On May 8 , 1541 , they reached the Mississippi River and traveled westward to Arkansas , Oklahoma and Texas .They fought with Tula tribe in Caddo River and lose everything . On May 21 , 1542 , de Soto died in Guachoya (near present McArthur , Arkansas .The expedition was then aborted (Wikipedia . Robert de La Salle ‘s expedition was separated into two parts . First ,when he led only 23 Frenchmen and 18 Native Americans on Mississippi River on 1682 . He marked and claimed what is now Venice , Lousiana as a France territory . De La Salle returned to France and prepared for a return expedition to establish a French colony . He led 300 colonists and 4 ships…